


Flowers and More, The Banana Fish Bouquet.... Store

by sao222



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M, no one dies, realistic flowershop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-09-13 12:32:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16892685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sao222/pseuds/sao222
Summary: A realistic flower shop AU where Eiji's a tired retail worker and Ash just wants a new job... Also it's Christmas.





	1. That One Hot Regular

“Well this is simply not what I asked for!!” snapped the lady, her purse and bags splayed all over the limited floor space in front of the counter. She was shaking a fist full of alstroemeria in Eiji Okumura’s tired face. “My grandmother HATES purple, please use another colour.” 

“Ahaha right of course. Sorry.” said Eiji trying to disguise his exasperation with laughter, and moved around the counter to the buckets where the flowers were kept. This woman had been coming in and out of the store for a good chunk of his last hour on shift, and he hadn’t had time to start closing. “What colours does she like?” 

“Oh I don’t know, you don’t have very many.”

From the back of the store there was an audible clang, as if an empty bucket had been kicked across the break room. Eiji was very familiar with this noise. “Well I’m personally fond of the pink, bu-“ 

“She hates pink” 

“Yellow?” He asked, stretching his smile a couple molars wider. 

“Yellow is fine but it’s a bit plain don’t you think?” She mused, touching Eiji’s back just below the tie of his yellow apron. This might have been an attempt at a friendly gesture, but it made his skin crawl. “How about we go with something brighter? Maybe add that blue in there too huh hun? Would you mind doing that? If it’s not too much trouble.”

_As if I can say no._

“No trouble at all Ma’am! I think that would be a lovely combination” said Eiji, deftly stepping away from her lingering hand and reached to retrieve the flowers she wanted from the front window display. He wasn’t going to tell her that blue alstroemeria didn’t exist and the bunch she was pointing at was just a darker shade of purple because, at the Banana Fish Flower Store, the customer was always right, even when they weren’t. He did, however, have to tie back his black fringe into a pathetic top knot after the lady wanted a fifth colour change on the wrapping paper. 

“Thanks.” She sniffed as she left the store, clearly unhappy with the neatly wrapped cluster of deep purple and yellow alstros, framed by sword fern and nestled in light a brown paper. 

“Fucking finally!” came a shout from the back room and Sing Soo-Ling suddenly appeared next to him, chewing a granola bar. He was also wearing a yellow apron over his white t-shirt, with matching yellow converse poking out under his baggy, ragged jeans. Sing's apron was scruffier than Eiji’s and had significantly less available pocket space as it was filled with plant clippings and snacks. His black hair was pushed to the side in a lazy part that still worked well to frame his face, and his dark eyes were rimmed with liner left over from the previous evening. “Thanks for that, it’s she just comes in all the time and I really couldn’t deal with her today.” 

“No problem, I’ve had worse. You really need to stop kicking buckets though, the entire store can hear it.” said Eiji, smiling. 

“Nah, I need an outlet or else I’m gunna to get fired for something I say. And I need this job Eiji, I need this job so bad.” said Sing and gave his senior a once over. “Nice hair.” 

“Thank you!” Eiji smiled sweetly, “and thank you so much for cleaning buckets today I really appreciate it.” 

“No problem.” Sing grimaced, then sighed as he moved over to the mountain of dirty buckets near the sink. “You’re lucky I needed the hours.”

“I am,” Eiji chuckled “I’ll start taking stuff in.” 

The late December air made Eiji shiver as he propped the front door open. Already pitch black, the small shopping complex that was home to Banana Fish Bouquets was illuminated by streetlights, and a garish assortment of Holiday decorations. The Bank across the complex from BFB had lights tangled around nearly all of its windows, and the Tanning Salon next door had an enormous blow-up Snowman that took up the entire sidewalk outside its front window. Eiji smiled as he saw a couple attempt to sidle around the glowing abomination, only to be forced onto the road. Sing’s roommate, who worked at the Starbucks next to the Salon and constantly visited BFB on his breaks to complain, said the baristas had developed a personal vendetta against the Tanning Salon because of the winter monstrosity. Although Eiji didn’t personally agree with many of the stylistic decisions of the stores in the complex, he couldn’t really complain because the Flower store he worked at was equally extravagant. All the store windows were painted white with winter scenes. Buckets of Pine boughs, Cedar, and Holly were organized in pyramids, framing the right of the front window, closest to the door. At the far side of the window was a wooden stand with a crudely painted cartoon angel choir that was objectively terrifying. There were small buckets of babies’ breath surrounding stand, but they did little to detract from the soulless eyes and gaping maws of the hell-choir. Underneath the window was a red bench that held buckets of single stem Amaryllis and candy cane coloured carnations. Pretty much every free surface on the display had fake snow stapled to it, which was the only snow that had fallen so far this season. The front display usually had a lot more flowers but because of the cold weather most of the more delicate plants had to be kept inside. Unfortunately most of the hardier plants were prickly, and had to be taken in every evening incase of theft. Eiji decided to bring in product in the order of least to most stabby and with minimal swearing, got everything inside. 

The back display was also a pain in the ass, not because of the amount of things that had to be brought in, but more so due to the the physical struggle of moving a concrete “Christmas fountain.” The fountain was a concrete planter filled dirt, ornaments, and a small cedar sapling that had fake birds hot glue gunned to it. It was ugly, worth more than Eiji’s pay check and heavy as all hell. When he attempted to bring it in, Sing had to leap over the counter to stop Eiji from bumping into the succulents and they were both panting by the time they got the monstrosity onto some free counter space. 

Despite all of the chores, closing was usually a one person job and was the only shift that fit with Eiji’s busy school schedule. Tonight however, Sing had sweet talked Jessica, the supervisor, into letting him stay a little later to help with cleaning. Close was usually a very boring four hours, so Eiji normally welcomed the company, but not tonight. Tonight was a Thursday, which meant _he_ would be stopping by at some point. The painter. This man was Eiji’s one solace in a line of angry baby boomers and old ladies who knew way more about plants than he did. He came in once every Thursday after his work to buy a small bouquet of whatever was on sale. He always asked to have his flowers wrapped in dark brown tissue and plastic, and Eiji tied them with a different colour ribbon each time. Eiji never charged for the ribbon, despite managerial recommendation, because he is a thirsty man with basic needs. This stranger was one of the few attractive people that shopped at BFB’s and Eiji would be damned if he let that horny 19 year old know about his one hot regular. 

“Hey Eiji?” called Sing, interrupting his thoughts. “Could you take out the trash?” 

_Fuck_

“Caaan you take out the trash?” said Eiji, turning to Sing and giving him a winning smile. “Please?”

“Aww come on I just did all the buckets”

“And I was just outside in the cold. I’m freezing!” 

“Okay then,” said Sing, pausing before he threw out a fist “Rock!” 

“Paper.” said Eiji at the same time as Sing, clenching his fist and widening his stance. 

“Scissors.” 

“Shoot!”

///

“God fuckin” Eiji grumbled hauling two trash bags behind him. It was now 7:45pm and the night had not gotten any warmer. He had forgotten to bring his jacket, and his pink collared shirt, apron and jeans did nothing little to keep any heat in. He breath clouded around him as he heaved the bags into the communal garbage bin. 

“Evenin” said a voice from behind the bin.

Eiji yelped, jumping before he replied. “Oh hey Cain, I didn’t know you were there.”

Cain let out a deep chuckle. “No, I didn’t know it was you at first either, thought it was the boss looking for me so I kept quiet. Sorry if I startled you.”

“Ah No, well yes but it’s all right,” Eiji stammered and watched as the tall black man stood up and took another drag from his cigarette. “Kitchen rough tonight then?”

“No more than normal, but normal is bad enough.” Cain said after exhaling his smoke down-wind of Eiji. “Flowers still growing?” 

“Miraculously, even under my care.”

Cain laughed again and stubbed out his cigarette butt. Although Cain seemed intimidating, Eiji had met him often enough at the communal garbage to know he was a decent guy. The White Spot line cook had tightly curled brown hair, that was shaved at the sides and he seemed to always be wearing a jean jacket over top of his black uniform. Eiji didn’t know if sunglasses were part of the uniform, but they seemed to be part of Cain himself, even at night in the darker corner of the underground parking lot, Eiji had never seen him take them off. Despite working in separate stores in the complex, Eiji knew quite a bit about Cain, including his favourite flower (Hibiscus). Eiji was very bad at Rock-Paper-Scissors. 

“I better be heading back, so should you. You look like your about to freeze to death,” Cain said, looking at Eiji shift his weight between both his feet while his nose turned pink. “If you stop by the Kitchen at the end of your shift I’ll see what I can do about giving you some leftovers.” 

“Oh Thank you!!! said Eiji, grinning at the thought of free food and he started to half jog back to the store. “Good luck with the rest of your shift!”

“Same to you friend.”

///

Eiji pulled the door open and rushed inside. 

“Tea, tea, tea, tea, tea,” he muttered, rushing past Sing who was leaning on a broom next to a pile of dirt. 

“What the hell are you making tea for?” Asked Sing, looking as Eiji rummaged through various shelves to find the store’s old half working kettle and his bag assorted herbal teas. “We have Cider.” He gestured to the slow cooker bubbling on the counter top with a lovely smell of apples and cinnamon coming from it. The Cider was supposed to be an incentive for customer retention, but Sing and Eiji were usually the only ones to drink it.  
“I like tea.” said Eiji, not looking up, and not willing to admit he’d accidentally spilt too much allspice in the current batch. 

“Oh dude this fucking model came in while you were gone.” said Sing ignoring Eiji’s comment. “He was like 6 feet tall and probably the most beautiful human I’ve seen this month. No joke.” 

Eiji banged his head on a shelf. “Oh really? No way…” 

“Yeah. He asked about the other cute asian guy that was working here.” said Sing who was grinning as Eiji spun around holding a bag of fertilizer and a box plastic forks.

“C-cute?” he squeaked, and then three octaves lower “Sorry who is this? He didn’t say cute though right, you’re messing with me.”

“Well he didn’t say cute exactly, but he bought a few carnations and when I wrapped them he said the other guy usually puts a ribbon round it.” Sing’s eyes softened at Eiji’s dejected expression, “He did seem kind of disappointed if that’s any consolation. I told him you were taking out the tra-“ 

The door opened silently and a chill blew in as an old Indian man made a bee-line for the Christmas Cacti. Sing went back to sweeping and Eiji served the gentleman who thanked him profusely for not only being open so late, but having the perfect sized box and tissue paper to put his new plant in. _The job isn’t all bad,_ Eiji thought as the old man left smiling. _The people can be nice, and it’s satisfying to have instant gratification for something you’ve made._ He pulled the old fish patterned blue plastic watering can and started circling the store, lifting up plants to check their weight and see if any needed watering. 

“I’M TAKING A SHIT” yelled Sing.

_The co-workers were interesting too._ Eiji chuckled, as he got distracted and started re-arranging the cooler that held all of the single stem flowers. Single stems were cut longer, and as a consequence couldn’t be stored in the same short black buckets as everything else. Instead they were kept in tall, vase-like white containers that were a bitch to clean but really made the flowers pop. The cooler was always fussed over the most by customers because it was where all the single roses were kept, and therefore was always the most disorganized. They had hand dyed roses in for holidays that the they was supposed to be merchandising, but Eiji preferred the natural flowers, so he moved these to the front when no one was looking.

“Excuse me.”

Eiji turned suddenly but thankfully did not jump because holding a container with about 3 dozen red roses in it. 

“I uhh, actually forgot one of them.”

It was the painter. Tall, blonde and green eyed. Still in his work clothes, old baggy jeans splattered with blue paint, wrapped in what must have been at least three different plaid jackets. Still, he was the most beautiful person that had walked in the store that week. He smiled, and pulled out a rose from the container Eiji was holding. _Maybe he’s the hottest person I’ve seen all week actually. Wait since last week, that was him too, the hottest person that I saw last week too. Wait does that mean that he’s the hottest person to ever shop he-_

“I hope you guys are still open, sorry I saw the light was still on.” said the stranger, cutting off Eiji’s rambling thoughts. _Right work. Job. Customer._

“No no it’s fine we’re still open” Eiji smiled, “I can help you over at the counter just give me a second.” It must still be real cold out there, thought Eiji noticing the painter’s red ears when he turned to walk towards the cash register.


	2. Dude, Flowers Again?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash paints too many things, Shorter gets a good tip, and Sing roasts Eiji with love.

3 hours earlier

“Who the FUCK,” hissed Ash “Wants their fucking house painted in December??!”

“The person who’s paying your rent this month so keep it the fuck down.” whispered Shorter, fixing tape along the door frame near where Ash was angrily slopping pale blue paint over the slightly darker blue shade that was once the colour of their clients living room. 

“Do you boys want tea?” a shrill voice called from the kitchen. “I’ve got cookies too if you’d like them.” 

“No thanks Ma’am,” Shorter replied, and Ash flicked paint at him. 

“You don’t want cookies.” Ash mumbled, his green eyes sparkling over a pout as Shorter flipped him off. “Keep it civil, jesus.” 

‘Keep paint out of my fucking hair.’ Shorter mouthed back, fixing his purple mohawk and anxiously checking his reflection in the client’s mirror. Paint was everywhere but in Shorter’s hair he saw, relieved, before kneeling down again, and wiping off a smudge on his cheek with the bottom of a hopelessly paint stained white shirt. The motion added more paint than it took away, Ash noted, but said nothing so he could use it for later ammunition. After 2 years, Ash usually didn’t care about paint in his hair, but today, Thursday, he casually glanced at himself in the mirror. Straw blonde hair, still paint-less, tied back in a small ponytail that he would normally never be caught dead wearing. His fringe was secured with a thin head band and his pale face was void of paint as well. _Good_ he thought, ignoring his shirt and jeans, which were as messy as Shorter’s. _I’ll be wearing my jackets anyway_. 

“How are you boys doi- Oh my it looks wonderful!” the house owner poked her head in, marvelling at the half finished wall, taped edges and plastic flooring, “You boys are doing a fabulous job!” She smiled at Ash, tilting her head, her wedding ring discretely obscured by the door frame. Ash ignored her. 

“Thank you, Ms. Jenkins, we still have a long way to go though.” Shorter replied. 

“Oh please, call me Lisa.” 

Ash didn’t see the point in being nice to the clients, especially the flirty middle-aged ones. He was attractive enough to have a terrible personality and still be hired back, something that Shorter constantly complained to him about. _Not to say that his best friend was bad looking_ , Ash thought, giving the toned, broad shouldered man a once over, _it’s just that, well_ he looked back at himself in the mirror and smirked, _it just really wasn’t fair._ Shorter was still making small talk while Ash began painting the wall properly. One of the few perks to this job were the times where he could be silent. Ash could just lose himself in the steady downward stroke of the brush, tuning out the noise surrounding him and retreat into his mind to think uninterrupted. Today had less introspective thought than usual, because today was a Thursday, and his mind was filled with the cute Japanese boy at the Flower shop near his house. He’d happened upon the guy by chance when he stopped into Banana Fish Bouquets to buy a last minute something for a birthday he’d forgotten. The chime-less door had swung open, and there, behind the counter was a bored looking angel leaning on a broom. Ash remembered the soft welcome, and genuine smile of that black haired beauty and very little else surrounding his first purchase, and subsequent purchases. The boy always wore the same ugly yellow apron, but it had a different name tag every time, so Ash wasn’t quite sure what he was called. It started out of curiosity. Ash did things cautiously, and wanted to confirm the butterflies weren’t just due to exhaustion, or the retail personality he’d experienced wasn’t a total facade. So he came back, next week after his shift, and slowly took his time around the store. That evening, Ash heard the flower boy swear, quite loudly after he’d dropped the bouquet he was working on. He’d had to cough to hide his laughter as the florist let out a string of ‘shit fuck oh fuck damn it’ in response to each curse. Expletives aside, something about the dark haired boy was strangely familiar and he had a calming air around him. Ash tried going in to other plant stores, _not because he’s crazy,_ he’d thought after his fourth out of the way trip to another garden centre, _but to rule out the possibility that plants were making him calm and simultaneously causing his heart to beat out of his chest._ They were not. Ash found himself returning to Banana Fish Bouquets every Thursday to spend a couple of bucks on whatever was on sale at the time just to catch a glimpse his favourite Florist. Every glance made him fonder of the stranger, but also made it more and more difficult to strike up a conversation. _What could he say to the cutest person he’d ever? How could he ask him out for coffee?? How the fuck were you supposed pick someone up while they were working?! You couldn’t! Asking him on his shift was awful because he’d be pressuring the poor boy while he was working, making the Florist wildly uncomfortable. However waiting outside the store for his shift to be over to ask him was equally, if not more, creepy and off-putting. However that might not be the only option if he could follow the guy on his coffee break and then “accidentally” bump into him._

“Ash.”

 _Then he could strike up a conversation there… But wouldn’t that be stalking and arguably 100 times more creepy than waiting for his shift to end._

“Ash!” 

_and what if he didn’t recognize him!_ Oh god Ash didn’t even think of that, _what i-_

“ASH!!”

“What?” Ash snapped turning around to address the annoyance. Shorter and the client were staring at him. “What is it?”

“Lisa only wanted one accent wall… pal.” Pal was their fun ‘at work in front of client’ code for absolute fucking dumb ass, and Ash could tell from Shorter’s face that he’d really fudged up this time. He’d finished the first coat on the wall they were supposed to do, and while he was lost in his thoughts had moved on to the next, unprepared wall.

“O-oh really?” Ash slipped into an apologetic stutter “Oh my gosh Ms. Jenk-, sorry Lisa, I totally forgot.” He looked up at her beneath his pale eyelashes, his face the picture of regret. “I am so, so sorry, I just got lost in the painting. It’s so easy to do when you’re doing what you love, especially in such a comfortable environment.” Ash moved his hand to rub the back of his neck awkwardly, exposing his waistline. Shorter rolled his eyes. “I’ll fix it right away! I’m sure we have some darker blue lying around in the truck or something.”

Lisa paused for a moment before beaming, “Oh no problem dear, no problem at all. Mistakes happen love don’t worry. In fact I think it looks better this way! Single accents are last season anyway, a double or half painted room is completely ahead of the curve. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you finishing painting that wall too love?”

“Not a problem at all!” Shorter interjected, before Ash could say anything else. “And we’ll do it at a discount since it was our mistake in the first place. Hah ha ha!” 

“Would you dears? Oh that’s so wonderful thank you boys so much!” said Lisa, seemingly ecstatic over her new unasked for paint job. “I’ll finish setting up those cookies.” 

“Thank you Lisa,” said Ash, smiling at her until she left the room, then looked guiltily over at Shorter. 

“Great fucking job asshole,” Shorter whispered, seething, “This was a hour and a half job max, now we have to do half the entire fucking living room! I had plans tonight.” 

“I didn’t mean to!” retorted Ash, at an equally low volume. “I wanted to buy flowers tonight! The fucking store’s gunna be closed by the time we’re done.” Then softly mumbled “Sorry.”

Shorter sighed and picked up a wash cloth. “I get your tip yeah?” 

Ash grinned and grabbed the paint tape “Most of it sure.”

Shorter clicked his tongue, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, which Ash took to be a good sign. They prepped in silence, talking only to Lisa when she came in with the cookies Shorter had tried to refuse. After she was gone, Shorter said, “Dude, flowers again? Are you seeing someone?” 

“No,” said Ash instantly, “I just like flowers.” 

“You do know we make the same amount of money, and I would not shell out $20 a week for things ‘I like’. Who are you seeing? Do I know them?” 

“There’s actually a really cheap place near where I live. It’s got a decent selecti- Fuck What??” Ash snapped at Shorter who was grinning at him.

“You go to the same place every time?” 

“Why?” 

“Ah so you aren’t seeing them then.” 

“Fuck off I’m done with this” Ash said, and returned to the painting with a bit too much enthusiasm. Shorter snickered, but dropped the subject. He knew Ash well enough to know when to stop teasing. 

The job ended up only taking two more hours, and they left the clean up for tomorrow when they would return to finish the second coat. Despite Shorter’s half-assed refusal, Lisa still shoved a 10 into both of their hands and her husband, now home, gave them a stiff nod goodbye. Ash gave Shorter his 10 after they’d hopped in the truck, and when they drove back to the storage unit, the equipment drop off took half an hour. Ash yelled goodbye at Shorter he ran for the 7:30 bus rifling through his pockets for his pass. _Safe_ he thought as he boarded the bus, panting slightly while he looked at his reflection in black window, restyling his hair after ripping out that god awful ponytail. Just a 15 minute bus ride to Banana Fish Bouquets. God he needed to see that boy, today had been terrible. His ‘apology’ had thrown Lisa into a mad-dog frenzy that only slightly reduced in intensity when her husband got home. Mr. Jenkins was not happy, and the last hour of Ash’s shift had been spent carefully avoiding both his and Shorter’s glares. Not fun, but the shopping complex was coming up. 

///

Ash paused outside the store for a moment before confidently strolling in, appearance was everything, he thought causally glancing over to the counter and instantly deflating when he saw it wasn’t his Florist. Another short, black haired asian kid, but not the one he was looking for. _Dammit today sucks_. This had happened once before, but it was a girl instead of this brat replacing his doe eyed Florist. _Fuck, I’ll get something anyway, maybe he’s just in the washroom or something._

“Can I help you?” asked the boy behind the counter, his tone buttery. Ash looked over to see he had a half smile on his face. _Maybe I can get some information out of this kid._

“Yeah sure, I’m actually ready to go.” Ash said, grabbing some red flowers that weren’t roses out of the black bucket nearest him.

“Wonderful, did you want these wrapped? It’s free of charge.”

“Yeah thanks.” Ash paused, watching as the boy took out tissue paper and plastic wrap like he’d seen his black haired crush do so many times. The wrapping was so smooth and practiced, but the boy finished it off with a straw bow instead of a ribbon. “Oh do you not have ribbons?” he asked, “The other guy usually does a ribbon.”

“Oh no we do,” he said “Would you like one? They’re not free though unfortunately.”

“No that’s okay.” Ash said, “I just usually get flowers from the other guy that works here. He’s in here around this time lot.” 

From behind the counter the other boy’s posture shifted and he narrowed his eyes. “Yeah he usually works this shift, I’m helping out so he’s not by himself on nights.” 

“Ah of course that makes sense, lots more people coming in with Christmas I guess.” Ash back-peddling.

“Yeah Christmas is busy. Can I help you with anything else?” 

Ash didn’t really care about gossip surrounding him, as long as it didn’t interfere with his day-to-day life people could think of him what they liked. However, in this situation, any gossip that spread back to _his_ florist about him could seriously damage Ash’s chances of a coffee date. He’d only mentioned his co-worker twice and this brat was already looking at him suspiciously.

“Nah I’m good thanks. Happy Holidays.” Ash said as he left the store and headed towards the Starbucks across the street to drowned himself in hot chocolate. 

However, not five minutes later while staring morosely out the window over his small peppermint mocha, Ash saw a coatless figure jogging out from below the parking garage towards the flower shop. The person was wearing a yellow apron.

Ash stood up, downed his mocha, swearing as the hot beverage burned his tongue and he started marching towards BFB. _I will fucking see to him today. I don’t care if it’s weird to come back twice I want to see him. I need to see him, It’s been too much of a fucking ordeal not to go, brat be damned!!_

Ash walked passed the door, doing a half lap that avoided any of the Flower Shop’s windows. He stopped outside the door on his third lap, and ran a hand through his hair, taking a breath before opening the door. Had it smelled like cinnamon before? The sweet spice mixed with the smell of flowers and pine was intoxicating. The entire store smelled of Christmas, and _he_ was here, with his head buried in the far cooler. Ash approached him slowly, glancing around to check for the brat, before saying,

“Excuse me.”

The Florist turned quickly and it took Ash’s breath away. The boy was holding a container with dark, red roses, his lips were slightly parted and his brown, doe eyes were wide spooked slightly when Ash had startled him. His cheeks were flushed and his nose was pink from just being outside. The florist’s fringe was tied up in a little black poof that was slowly becoming lose as he went about his day. Completely adorable, Ash felt a lop-sided grin spread across his face as he reached for one of the roses the boy was holding. 

“I uhh, actually forgot one of them.” Ash said, “I hope you guys are still open, sorry I saw the light was still on.”

“No no it’s fine we’re still open” the Florist smiled softly, and Ash felt warm all over. “I can help you over at the counter just give me a second.” 

Ash turned towards the counter, trying to calm down. _For god sakes,_ he chastised himself, _You don’t even know who this guy really is, you’re going off looks alone and acting like a shallow teenager. But god those looks, no no wait stop don’t. Don’t do this please brain._ By this time the boy had put the roses away and made his way around the counter to the cash register, Ash could breath again, just in time. 

“Do you want that wrapped?” 

“Ahh yes please.”

“Is brown paper alright?” the boy smiled at him, and Ash’s new favourite colour was brown. 

“Haha yeah thank you.”

“Oh I can also put some baby’s breath and greenery in there, if you want” said the Florist, “Single roses are beautiful but some framing is always nice.” 

_You’re number would frame it really nice too._ Ash thought, before saying “Sure!” There was a silence as the boy rummaged around for some more supplies. Ash saw his name tag read “Sing” today. He seemed to wear that one the most often, could that be his name? _I can get his name today right, surely I can do that much_. Ash watched as the boy laid a fern leaf down on a 75 degree angle across the tissue paper and plastic. He also arranged some small, delicate white puffy flowers on top before laying the rose down onto the plastic. Ash silently marvelled at the boy’s long fingers as they deliberately folded each side of the paper, like origami. After taping it together, the boy pulled out a long silvery ribbon from beneath the counter and tied it tight to shape the bouquet like an hourglass. “Oh how much is the extra stuff?” 

“Oh uh, it’s free.” said the Florist while scanning something into the cash register. 

_Huh_

“Oh thank you Sing that’s awesome.” 

The boy looked up, tilting his head slightly before laughing. “Oh no this is my co-worker’s name tag, we switch them up all the time, my name is Eiji.”

_Eiji._

“Well then thank you Eiji.” Ash smiled warmly, “This looks great.” 

_Eiji._

“No problem I’m glad you like them.” Eiji smiled, pausing before adding sheepishly “Sorry, how did you want to pay.” 

“Ah debit please.” he fumbled putting the card in, and couldn’t meet his eyes. Eiji’s eyes. _Eiji was the perfect name for him._ Ash thought, then riding off the name high said “I like the hair by the way.”

Eiji reached up to touch his head and sighed. “T-thank you, I must have forgot about it. My hair gets in my face sometimes, I didn’t mean to have it up like this all day.” 

“It looks cute.” said Ash, before he could stop himself. _FuckFUckfuckfuckfuckfuck STUPID_

Eiji blushed, “Ah thanks.” 

There was a 10 second period where no one said anything verbally, and Ash was mentally throwing himself off a cliff. “I better be going, I’ll see you round.” Ash said finally grabbing the rose and walking out the door. 

“Have a good evening” called Eiji after him and Ash rounded the corner only to lean against a wall, blushing furiously. 

_What the fuck was that?_

//// 

Sing came back from his extended bathroom/phone break to find Eiji curled over his knees hiding behind the counter. 

“What happened?” he asked, slightly concerned. Eiji mumbled something through his knees, not looking up. 

“What??” 

“He said I was cute!” Eiji said loudly still not looking up.

“With that hair-do?” Sing snorted, and Eiji started groaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Rating change because I swear a lot so my boys swear a lot. Please forgive any typos it's 5am right now and I will go back and edit later.


	3. Uhhh Yeah I Remember You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eiji studies, Ash wears glasses, and someone orders a Hawaiian Panini.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short and unedited as always because finals, my apologies.

Eiji leaned back, tilting his chair and stretching his arms with laced hands. He was on the third floor of the University library in the quiet study section. He could feel the bags under his eyes, and he was that awful jittery tired when the coffee stopped working but the caffeine still coursed through his veins. His hand ached from taking notes and his shoulders were in knots from constant stress. In short, it was finals. Eiji didn’t know why he chose Ecology as an elective. As a physical education major, it certainly wasn’t a pre-requisite. Sing had said it was a really interesting course and a good GPA booster, but he should have known better than to trust a Biology major. The lab had been hell, he’d barely scraped a 65%, and the lecture was pure memorization. Sure, Eiji didn’t mind the 8:30am lecture because mornings were usually his friend, but the course content was endless and the final was cumulative. There was no God. 

_Surely high school hadn’t been this stressful._ Eiji tried to remember the years before his accident, before his professional athletic career had been cut short at 22 from one bad jump. He remembered not studying and still getting good grades, hanging out with his friends on weekends and the endless mornings on the Track. His first medal, the endless scholarship offers, being his family’s pride and joy. Eiji grimaced and picked up his pencil again. _That life is over, you can’t do anything about it now_ he thought, _What you can do is pass this exam and never learn another thing about niches again._

A couple of barely productive hours passed while Eiji grappled with the textbook and his own motivation. He was in the middle of trying to decipher his own lecture notes about fruit fly mating strategies when his stomach growled loud enough to turn heads. _Food break_ he ducked his head down, embarrassed, while he grabbed his jacket, wallet, and phone. He left his backpack and laptop strewn causally over his study spot as a territorial marker. He wouldn’t be gone for long. Eiji made his way through the maze of books, taking a long weaving path to avoid bumping into people. He ended up going all the way towards the back window to avoid a small cluster of frantically whispering first years and a girl who was passed out on the floor, still clutching notes with an empty coffee cup rolling slightly at her side. _Another casualty._ The back windows overlooked the quad, which was usually obscured by trees but the harsh winter weather had left only the bones of the tall maples. _Do I work today?_ he thought, glancing down to grab his phone when something caught his eye. A flash of blonde. Eiji turned around and his jaw dropped. Sitting against a pillar near the window, wearing round silver rimmed glasses with his hair tucked behind his ears, was the painter. Even though he wore a navy jumper over a turquoise collared shirt instead of his usual forty layers and splattered jeans, there was no mistaking that golden blonde hair or those emerald eyes fiercely focused on the novel in front of him.

 _Oh my God his sleeves are rolled up._ Eiji thought, still frozen in the middle of the aisle. _Stay calm, how do I do this? Okay. Just walk past him and pretend you don’t see him. No, no wait say something. Approach him and say something. Ahhh I’m so stupid why didn’t I get his name!! Wait no I’m just going to leave. It’s a customer. He probably doesn’t even remember me. Yes good leaving now, not a coward, just sensible._ Eiji went to take a step back into the cover of the shelves when his stomach let out another horrific growl. The painter looked up from his book and his eyes met Eiji’s. _Oh God._ He blinked slowly before saying, “Eiji?” 

“Y-yeah, hi.” said Eiji, seconds away from bolting into the book labyrinth.

“I go to BFB all the time… do you remember me?” He shifted closing his book and moving his glasses up his forehead to reveal at least 4 new shades of green in his eyes.

 _Uh yeah, uh yeah I remember you uhhhhh yeah I uhhhh remember you_ Eiji thought then said, “Oh yeah! I didn’t know you went to the university,” he paused, “Sorry I don’t know your name.” _Nice! Totally natural! Good job Eiji! Great! Fuck!_

The painter laughed, “Right sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, my name is Ash.” 

_Ash. Holy hell._

“Couldn’t help but hear your stomach,” Ash smirked, then ran a hand through his hair, “I was just finishing up that chapter anyway and was going to go for coffee… if you want to join.”

Eiji.exe stopped working, and just stared blankly at Ash who continued to talk a little faster. 

“No pressure or anything. Join or not it’s up to you, I could just use the compan-”

“I’LL GO.” Eiji said very loudly, then recoiled when he remembered his surroundings. 

Ash snorted, “Okay sounds good, try not to tell the entire library.”

 _Fuck he looked beautiful even when he was being an ass._ Eiji thought blushing profusely and waited for Ash to pick up his backpack. It was a leather satchel that would look pretentious on anyone else but when he slung it over his shoulder it worked irritatingly well with his whole outfit. “Do you like Nero’s?” asked Eiji remembering his voice, “It’s cheap and they sell good sandwiches.” 

“Works for me.” Ash replied, putting his hands in his pockets and headed towards the exit. _Damn him, he was so cool it was unfair._ Eiji thought, and followed behind him. They walked in silence, and Eiji wracked his brain for topics to talk about with a random stranger who was way out of his league and whom he knew nothing about. Thankfully Ash broke the silence when they got to the stairs. “Are you in first year?”

“Uhh yeah,” Eiji said as they walked towards the exit. Even though he was 24, people correctly assumed he was in first year because of his permanent baby face. _At least he didn’t ask me if I was in high school_ “What year are you in?” 

“Oh I’m not in school,” Ash said, holding the library door open for him, “I’m trespassing.” 

“You’re pretty well read for a trespasser,” Eiji replied quickly, “Was that Jane Eyre?” 

“A bit of light reading.” 

Eiji held his tongue, opting to stare at the scenery instead of the glittering emerald pools that were slowing pulling him in. Every thing he’d learned about the stranger had made him more mysterious. Eiji thought he knew more about Ash when he was just the hot regular. It made him insanely curious, which was dangerous because Eiji was pretty sure he was already infatuated with the man. 

“Do you come here often?” Eiji asked, looking straight ahead as they walked, pretending not to notice that Ash was still looking at him. 

“Is that your pick up line?” 

“WHAT?!” Eiji spluttered “NO I was just ASKing if you come to the library oft-” 

He was cut off by Ash’s snickering. “I know, I know. Yeah I come here when I can. There’s a better selection than the public library and I fit in well enough to not cause any suspicion. I also sit in on lectures when they’re interesting. What courses are you taking?”

“English, Anatomy, Ecology, Calculus and Chem.” Eiji said automatically, “But it’s finals now and everything is done except for Ecology.”

“Almost over then.” Ash smiled, his glasses still holding up his fringe in a messy tangle that somehow worked perfectly. He could have been a teacher’s assistant, or a professor, when his glasses were down. Eiji still couldn’t believe they were actually walking together and having a conversation. It seemed like a dream as they walked side by side down the path that led to Nero’s. It was a small cafe on campus about a five minute walk away from the library. Everything there was fairly inexpensive, and if you brought your own thermos the refill price was dirt cheap. They also had second day sandwiches at half price that usually didn’t sell out because no one bought Eiji’s favourite sandwich. A brief expression that Eiji thought could have been mild disgust flashed across Ash’s face when Eiji ordered the ‘Double-Toasted Second Day Hawaiian Panini’, but it was gone too fast for him to tell. Ash got a small peppermint mocha, with extra toppings, and Eiji didn’t understand how the tower of whipping cream, chocolate sauce and green and red sprinkles that was handed to Ash across the counter counted as a coffee. 

“Should we sit there?” Ash pointed at two comfy chairs in the corner, backed by the window and partially obscured by the edge of an artificial fireplace. 

“It’s perfect.”

They talked for hours. Eiji was surprised how easy the conversation flowed. It was an instant connection, one he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Despite being distracted by Ash’s little movements, or losing his train of thought when their eyes met, Eiji continued to talk about everything. Music tastes (where there was much agreement) to food preferences (to which there was little to no agreement) and even family. Eiji talked about his exchange and how much he was looking forward to seeing his family and cats again, relatively uninterrupted. He noticed Ash managed to slide past all of the more personal questions but Eiji didn’t press him. The information he got was more than he had hoped for. Ash was 21, he did contract work as an interior decorator’s bitch (his words not Eiji’s) and he had an older brother. Eiji grasped these little details, attempting to make a clearer picture of the enigma that was Ash. It wasn’t until Eiji saw it was growing dark outside that he checked his phone. 

“Shit! I have to go, I work in like 30 minutes!” Eiji gasped, scrambling to put stuff back in his pockets.

“Oh, okay.” Ash said. 

There was an awkward, almost yearning silence as Eiji pushed in his chair and stood by the table. He didn’t want this to end.. but he didn’t know how to ask for it to continue. 

“I…. I guess I’ll see you around then.” Ash said, ending the silence, “Have a good shift.”

“Ah yeah see you.” Eiji said, deflating as he walked towards the door, _I thought he was gunna ask me for my number._ He paused with his hand on the door. “Hey!” Eiji said, turning around, trying to sound casual, “If you’re interested in Anatomy, I’m taking another course next semester. If you want I can text you when I know my lecture times?” 

“Oh yeah sure!” Ash said smiling widely, “What’s your number?” 

Eiji nearly collapsed in relief as he told Ash his phone number. 

“Awesome, cool, text me! I’ll see you later!” Eiji called before running out the cafe. _Shit I still have to pick my stuff up from the library, and I’m going to miss the bus._ Eiji thought, grinning from ear to ear. _Sing is going to kill me this time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you want me to add Ash's POV of this interaction at the beginning of next chapter (spoilers: he's not as cool as Eiji thinks he is)
> 
> Sorry again about the length, next update should be bigger to make up for it. 
> 
> Also thank you so much for the comments and kudos y'all are so lovely and supportive it warms my heart <3


	4. Alright Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash is a coward, Eiji fears brooms, and they were roommates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahah that finale huh. Wild. Glad Ash and Eiji are married in Japan anD NO ONE DIED. 
> 
> Anyway y'all wanted Ash's POV so it's the majority of the chapter, thanks for reading as always and I'll see you at the end.

It was Ash’s first day off in ages and he was curled up in his favourite spot at the University. He was sitting in a window sill above the oppressive atmosphere of final stress, in the quietest nook of the third floor where no one walked by. It was truly one of the best places in his little world. He was thumbing through Jane Eyre for the hundredth time, basking in the rare December sunlight that was filtered by the treeless branches outside. His perfect Saturday. 

The tranquil silence was broken by an inhuman gargling that came from behind the pillar in front of him. Ash sighed, and looked up expecting it to be another undergraduate having a mental breakdown, but it wasn’t. It was him. Cheeks tinged pink and holding his stomach. The Florist. “Eiji?” Oh my God. He was wearing a navy blue jacket over a red sweater and collared shirt with beige pants. It was the first time Ash had seen him out of that horrible apron and it was honestly life changing.

“Y-yeah, hi.” Eiji said, still standing there awkwardly. Oh fuck he doesn’t recognize me, oh god Ash thought, his worst fears realized. _I just fucking called him by name like a total ass, there are a hundred fucking people that go into that store how the fuck would he remember me stupid stupid. I gotta recover… wait maybe it’s just the glasses._

“I go to BFB all the time… do you remember me?” Ash closed his book and pushed up his glasses. _Oh yeah fuck dude that’ll work it’s a Superman situation clearly. Idiot._

Eiji smiled, and it was blinding “Oh yeah! I didn’t know you went to the University,” he paused, “Sorry I don’t know your name.”

 _He remembers me._ Ash laughed, giddy, “Right sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, my name is Ash.” 

Ash couldn’t remember the last time another human being had made him this anxious, or the last time he’d actually cared about what someone thought of him. But this near stranger made his silver tongue stumble and clouded his sharp mind. He brought Ash such pure happiness, just from the thought of being thought of by _him_. Eiji remembered him and if there was even the slimmest chance that this remembrance was something more than lip service, Ash felt compelled to cling to it like a life line. 

“Couldn’t help but hear your stomach,” Ash said, running a hand through his hair nervously, “I was just finishing up that chapter anyway and was going to go for coffee,” he paused, inhaling before saying, “if you want to join.”

Eiji just stood there staring at him. Ash’s heart dropped. _Was he too eager? Too forward? Had he fucked this up? Oh God no._

“No pressure or anything.” He said hurriedly, trying to recover, “Join or not it’s up to you, I could just use the compan-”

“I’LL GO.” Eiji yelled, cutting off Ash’s rambling, and then immediately shrunk down self consciously. 

Ash was thankful he was sitting down or he felt his legs might of collapsed. “Okay sounds good, try not to tell the entire library.” He snorted to cover a sigh of relief. He picked up his bag hiding his smile from the Japanese boy who was glaring at him. _Is that supposed to be an angry face, Christ he’s as intimidating as a pillow._

“Do you like Nero’s?” asked Eiji while Ash was gathering his stuff, “It’s cheap and they sell good sandwiches.”

 _Yes god yes I love Nero’s I don’t know what it is but I love it because you said it._ Ash thought before replying out loud “Works for me.” and put his hands in his pockets and before heading towards the exit. _Why the hell am I so sweaty?_ They walked in silence for a bit before Ash asked, “Are you in first year?”

“Uhh yeah,” Eiji said as they walked towards the exit. “What year are you in?” 

“Oh I’m not in school,” Ash said, holding the library door open for him, “I’m trespassing.” 

“You’re pretty well read for a trespasser,” Eiji replied quickly, “Was that Jane Eyre?” 

“A bit of light reading.” _Flawless execution. See? I am not only a gentleman but a charming intellectual with a bad boy streak. Works every time… Why are you not looking at me?_ Ash stared at Eiji who continued looking straight ahead, seemingly uninterested. _God dammit._

“Do you come here often?” Eiji asked.

The comment caught him so off guard Ash couldn’t stop himself “Is that your pick up line?” 

“WHAT?!” Eiji spluttered. “NO I was just ASKing if you come to the library oft-” 

Ash laughed cutting him off, admiring the embarrassed blush that was spreading to Eiji’s ears. _He was fun to tease._ “I know, I know. Yeah I come here when I can. There’s a better selection than the public library and I fit in well enough to not cause any suspicion. I also sit in on lectures when they’re interesting. What courses are you taking?”

“English, Anatomy, Ecology, Calculus and Chem.” Eiji said robotically, “But it’s finals now and everything is done except for Ecology.”

“Almost over then.” Ash said, and Eiji finally turned to look at him, grinning. His black hair moved with the motion, letting a bit that was tucked behind his ears bounce free. Ash wanted to tuck it back, badly. But he let it bounce there, watching the loose strand all the way into the cafe. Only snapping back to earth when he heard Eiji order the ‘Double-Toasted Second Day Hawaiian Panini’. Of course. He had to have flaws, he was human after all. _What kind of fresh hell sandwich is that? With warm pineapple??_ Ash thought, contorting his grimace into a neutral expression when Eiji turned around. _He was worth it… So far._

After Ash got the peppermint mocha he’d ordered, he pointed to two chairs in the back corner with a good view of the rest of the cafe. “Should we sit there?”

“It’s perfect.” 

_You’re perfect._

They clicked. There was no other word for it. After hours of talking, barely noticing the sky darkening outside, he was even more infatuated by the Florist. Ash had listened to his god awful taste in food, about his family, and about how happy Eiji was about returning home for Christmas. He had felt relaxed, accidentally letting more of himself show than he meant to. Eiji was dangerous like that and Ash had found the comforting atmosphere that surrounded him was like a truth serum. He even mentioned Griffin before catching himself. Although Eiji didn’t seem malicious, or capable of even thinking poorly of others, he was still a stranger. Albeit an excitable stranger who pouted when you teased him about his little sister, and shone when he talked about his favourite bands. Ash had a mental list of musicians he had to look up because he’d kept saying he knew who Eiji was talking about when he’d looked at Ash with those puppy-dog eyes. Ash had barely touched his mocha he was so caught up in the way Eiji moved his hands to describe everything. The moment ended abruptly though, when Eiji gasped and looked at his phone. 

“Shit! I have to go, I work in like 30 minutes!” He said, scrambling to put stuff back in his pockets.

 _No_

“Oh, okay.” Ash said.

_Please I don’t want this to end._

There was a long silence, where Eiji stood by the table, and Ash struggled to find the courage to ask him to stay.

“I….”

 _He doesn't know you. You're just another stranger to him and if he wanted to keep in touch he would have asked for your number already._

His insidious internal monologue stopped Ash from saying anything but, “I guess I’ll see you around then. Have a good shift.”

“Ah yeah see you.” Eiji said, frowning a little before heading to the door. 

_Callenreese you utter coward._ Ash thought, his heart growing cold as he watched Eiji walk away. _What’s the point of even going to the flower store? I’m never going to fucking ask him out anyway_

“Hey!” Eiji said, his hand on the cafe door, snapping Ash back to the present.

“If you’re interested in Anatomy, I’m taking another course next semester. If you want I can text you when I know my lecture times?” 

_He gave me an in. He gave me a fucking in. He wants to see me again._ An uncontrollable grin spread across his face as Ash said, “Oh yeah sure! What’s your number?” 

Ash etched the digits in his mind as Eiji said them one by one, still not quite believing this was real. 

“Awesome, cool, text me! I’ll see you later!” Eiji called before running out the cafe.

“Can I text you now?” Ash whispered after the door swung shut. The delayed cold air rushed back towards him, blowing his hair in his face. Ash reached to fix it and realized he was still smiling. 

///

“I’m sorry Sing I said I was sorry, you know how the buses are this time of year,” Eiji said, fastening his apron. He tried to not meet the furious glare of his coworker, or the poisonous eyes of the long haired man lounging on the other side of the counter. 

“It’s fine I get it, but Yuu was waiting for me to get off my shift,” Sing said, taking off his apron, “and even that would be fine, if you were being honest.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eiji said, still not looking Sing in the face, choosing instead to reach for a broom, which Sing grabbed too fast for him to react and began to brandish the handle like a weapon. 

“You. Are. Eiji. Okumura.” said Sing, taking a step towards Eiji, “You are not late, and you certainly don’t show up with your hair like that and grinning like an idiot. Now who is it?!” 

“W-What my hair? I-t’s … it’s windy??” Eiji stuttered running his hands through his hair, was it really that bad? “And who are you talking about?” 

“I’ve seen his hair look worse.” Yut-Lung commented, checking his nails. 

Eiji glared at him, before his attention was brought back to the short broom brandishing Chinese boy after a jab to the chest. _My god why is he so scary_

“Who man? WHO?!”

“I.. I don’t know, I don’t know okay. It was a coffee, it was just a coffee hangout, I lost track of time.” Eiji spluttered, raising his hands in defence. 

“AHAH!” cried Sing triumphantly, thrusting the broom in the air, “You were late because of a coffee date!! How dare you try and lie to me?! As punishment, I’ve left you ALL the buckets to clean. Ahahaha!!”

“Sing that’s my job, and I wouldn’t call it a date,” Eiji gulped as both pairs of eyes turned to look at him, “We just met by coincidence.” He finished in a small voice. 

Yut-Lung’s eyes softened briefly, then he snapped “Come on then Sing I want to go home. Hurry up, I’m sick of waiting.” 

“But the interrogation??” 

“I don’t care who your co-worker fucks in his spare time” Yut-Lung said, ignoring the horrified gasp of an elderly lady who was trying to pour herself some cider. “I am tired, I want to go home and not talk to people.”

‘Get him out of here’ Eiji mouthed at Sing, who rolled his eyes and went to grab his things. Yut-Lung was Sing’s roommate who worked at the Starbucks in the Shopping Complex and visited Banana Fish Bouquets on his breaks. The two of them had known each other since high school and had been living together for two years now. Eiji knew him mainly for his bad attitude and foul mouth that scared away customers, but he was over often enough for Eiji to catch glimpses past his bitchy exterior. Eiji once had to physically hold him back after a particularly nasty customer had been giving Sing a hard time. It was only by luck and manager apathy that he hadn’t been banned from the store already. 

“Alright princess lets go” Sing said, coming out from the back wearing his fleece lined bomber jacket. He walked towards the door, not looking at Yut-Lung, and not catching the way his roommate looked down, turning a light pink at the sarcastic nickname. 

_Huh_ thought Eiji, and then immediately tried to look very busy when Yut-Lung whipped his head around to glare at him. _They are both so scary I’m not going to tell him why do you hate me??_

“Oh Eiji, schedule is posted.” Sing called over his shoulder before leaving, “See you tomorrow.” 

“Thank you, see you guys later.”

The door closed with a chorus of byes, and Eiji spent the next ten minutes trying to talk down the lady at the cider slow cooker, who was “seconds away from reporting that hooligan to the manager.” Eiji explained repeatedly that the “pony-tail wearing heathen” didn’t actually work at BFB and the white cable knit crop top and tight black jeans he was wearing were not part of the BFB uniform. This was a near every day conversation, and it usually ended with him giving a discount on some nice flowers. 

When she finally left with a bundle of spray roses at 30% off, Eiji sighed and went to check the schedule book. He’d asked for two weeks off. It was a big ask, but he hadn’t seen his family since the start of the semester because everyone was in Japan. Christmas was the one time of year when they could all get together and Eiji was really looking forward to it. He was leaving it to the last minute, but he still hadn’t bought the plane tickets. His last exam was in three days, and he wanted to know exactly when his last shift was so he could leave as soon as possible. He missed his mom’s cooking, he missed his cat and his sister and his dad. He hadn’t told them he was coming home for Christmas, he’d hinted he couldn’t make it so it would be a surprise when he showed up at their front door. Eiji smiled at the thought of their faces, opening the schedule book. His smile faltered. He checked again. And again. Once more tracing his finger from his name along to the week of Christmas. 

He was scheduled to work Christmas Eve.

He wasn’t going home for Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's about as angsty as it's gunna be.
> 
> My finals are done now so I should have the next chapter up soon. I wanted to get this done before Christmas but it's highly unlikely (I'll try my best though!!). Thanks again for reading guys, your kind words give me the strength to carry on writing <3 
> 
> Happy Holidays!


	5. HE USED A HEART EMOJI?!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash man-splains, Eiji makes apple cider and I shamelessly plug 'Into The Spiderverse'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **HEADS UP** : First bit has descriptions of someone having trouble finding motivation the to eat, if that’s not great for you skip to the slashes

“Hey Griff have you seen the new spiderman movie?” Ash asked from the kitchen of his small, two bedroom basement suite. 

“No but everyone has been raving about it online.” said Griffin from the couch, laying down with a battered laptop on his chest, “Did you want to go?” 

“Ahh no well uhh.” Ash stopped wiping the counter, his hand reflexively moving to the back of his neck. “I bought tickets for me and a friend and I wanted to know if it was any good.”

Griffin looked over at his little brother smiling, “Well here I thought you actually wanted to see a movie with me.” 

“Don’t be stupid we watch movies all the time.” Ash said and then glared at the untouched plate of food on the Coffee table next to the stubbled blonde, “Eat your dinner.” 

“Not hungry yet,” said Griffin nonchalantly staring at his computer.

Ash narrowed his eyes, “It’s been over 17 hours and you haven’t eaten anything I’ve made you. You’re going to catch a cold if you keep this up and your body can’t handle that right now.” Griffin made no motion to look at Ash or the food, instead just staring at the pages scrolling by on his laptop. Ash sighed, clenching his fists before relaxing, “Please brother, I spent hours on that, it’s your favourite.” 

Griffin looked over and saw pleading green eyes. He sighed and took an exaggerated mouthful of the curry Ash had set out for him. It tasted like nothing, just like everything always did. “It’s delicious Aslan, thank you.” 

“Hmfph,” sniffed Ash masking his concern with an eye roll, “You better finish it.”

“I’ll try.”

Ash went back to cleaning, hearing the fork scrape against the plate in the living room lessened some of the tension in his back. Griffin had been doing good, as good as he could be, in the summer but the darker winter days had thrown him off again. He’d stopped eating and drinking without reminder and his cough had come back with a vengeance. At 26 he sounded like an 60 year old chain smoker after the constant coughing had torn his throat to shreds. His health was too irregular to hold down a stable job so Ash worked full time to support the both of them. 

Post Secondary had been the obvious plan for Ash. He was the smartest person he knew, and at grade 11 his potential had already attracted ivy league attention. But during Ash’s last year of high school Griffin had a dip. A bad one. The one that made him finally quit working and forced him to live off disability. Ash came home one day to see his a shell of his brother, unable to move from the couch or cook them dinner like he always did. Ash made dinner for them that night, and every night that followed. He still remembered microwaving a grilled cheese and placing it anxiously at his brother’s non responsive side, curling up at the foot of the couch and watching cartoons until his brother ruffled his hair to let Ash know he was back again. When the scholarships came Ash hid them all. School was not an option without free money, and leaving Griffin was not an option for Ash. Griffin was the only family he had left and Ash would protect him, even if it meant spending his entire life in this miserable city.

Ash heard the fork stop scraping, and glanced over to see Griffin had barely eaten half of it. His expression darkened but he said nothing, opting instead to make ginger tea with plenty of honey and placed it beside Griffin before walking towards the door.

Griffin looked up as Ash grabbed his coat. “Where are you going? Do you work today?”

“Just need some air,” Ash said behind him and closed the door. 

///

He began to walk with no direction, his head was too full and he needed space to organize it all. Ash didn’t even notice how numb his fingers were until he had to struggle to unlock his phone. He was going to text Shorter for a distraction, but stopped scrolling down his messages when he saw Eiji’s name. They’d been texting since the miracle at the library three days ago. He was the reason Ash had bought the Spiderman tickets, because Eiji had said he liked of superhero movies. He’d mentioned it in passing, so Ash had immediately googled “superhero movie theatre now” and reserved two seats for “Into the Spiderverse”. He was going to ask Eiji if he wanted to hang out and watch it this weekend, but Ash hadn’t gotten up the courage yet. _Am I being too eager? Surely it can’t be this easy… I don’t even know if he’s into guys._ Ash crumpled the tickets in his pocket and continued to walk, his anxiety surrounding Griffin slowly being pushed aside by thoughts of Eiji. His smile, the way he texted with no conjugations and hundreds of emojis, like a grandma. The way he wrapped Ash’s flowers, so precisely, with such care and softness in his eyes Ash sometimes got jealous of the bouquet. _When the hell is Thursday? I want to see him._ Ash stopped suddenly, his breath fogging around him as he realized his surroundings; outside the Shopping Complex near his house, in perfect view of Banana Fish Bouquets. _No way… it’s still open?_ The windows of the store were still illuminated and Ash could see Eiji sweeping, partially obscured by the pyramid of poinsettias in the front display. Before he knew it, Ash was opening the door, greeted with the familiar scent of mixed pine and cinnamon, and a tired “Welcome,” from Eiji, whose eyes lit up when he saw who it was, “Ash hey! I didn’t know you were coming today!!” 

Ash felt his heart pull in his chest at the sight of his Angel. Beautiful as always, Eiji was obviously exhausted, with bags under his eyes and a little too pale complexion, lacking his usual flushed cheeks, he’d clearly not been getting enough sleep. 

“I was in the neighbourhood and saw the lights were still on. I thought you guys closed at 8?” 

“Oh it’s a Christmas thing,” sighed Eiji, leaning on his broom, “We’re staying open until 9:30 until Christmas Eve.” He paused a little furrow appeared between his eyebrows, “We’re staying open until 10:30 on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.” 

“Surely you’re not working though,” Ash said clenching his fists in his pockets, “You said you were going back to Japan for Christmas?”

Eiji smiled sadly, not meeting Ash’s eye. He scuffed his foot against the spotless floor and said “No, I have to work.” 

“That’s bullshit!” snapped Ash, forgetting himself in his anger, “Who the fuck buys flowers on Christmas Eve, especially at 10pm?!! Did you fight it?” 

Eiji blinked at Ash, startled from seeing the tall blonde lose his temper for the first time. Ash cursed himself silently and took a quiet breath to calm down.

“I did, I talked to the manager, but their hands are tied. One of our part-timers who was going to cover the shift quit without warning. The manager said it was me or Sing.” 

_Don’t see the fucking manager stepping up to work Christmas Eve._ Ash thought vehemently, but kept silent as Eiji continued.

“Sing needs to travel to see family too and he already bought tickets. I hadn’t bought my plane tickets yet so… I was the best fit.” Eiji sighed, no smile this time, just tight lips and sad eyes not meeting Ash’s. “and I’m not going to ask Sing to cover for me,” said Eiji, reading Ash’s mind, “because he’d do it, and I don’t want to be the reason for him missing Christmas with his Family.” 

“Fuck that part-timer!” Ash said suddenly, which made Eiji laugh, so Ash continued. “Fuck your manager too, fuck loyalty, call in sick.” 

“They’d fire me Ash. I need this job, I need the money. It’s a pain to get work on a student visa, I was lucky to get hired here at all.” Eiji said gently, his small smile not quite erasing the furrow between his eyebrows.

Ash wanted to smooth it away with his thumb _Or a kiss_ he thought, searching for the right words to make the crease go away. 

“How’s studying going?” 

Eiji let out a half laugh/sob and Ash mentally kicked himself. _Wrong fucking words IDIOT._

“Not great,” Eiji said gesturing to the open textbook and pile of looseleaf notes on the counter, “The exam is tomorrow and I can’t shove any more information in my head. It’s cumulative.”

Ash hissed in sympathy. 

He paused before saying, “You need a break. A real one, not while working or any of that bullshit.” his filter lost in his anger for Eiji. 

“The exam is tomorrow though I ha-“ Eiji tried to interject but Ash cut him off. 

“Come hang out with me after work. Just for a bit. Get some fresh air, we can look at the Christmas lights.” Ash caught himself off guard with the invitation. “I-I mean if you want to of course.” 

Ash was about to say something about not feeling obligated, but Eiji’s firm voice cut off his internal panic.

“I’ll go.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” Eiji smiled, a real one, smoothing his brow and lighting his dark eyes, “I.. I get caught up in the stress and forget to take breaks. My shift ends in half an hour if you don’t mind hanging around until then.” 

“Yeah it’s no problem,” Ash said, breathless and giddy once more. _Do I mind? I would live here if I could._ “I’ll stay out of your way.” 

“Oh no I’m all done with the close, I’m just bored waiting it out.” Eiji sighed, walking behind the counter to put the broom away, then stood by his textbook. “I’m not taking the break yet, so I’m just going to look over some stuff. Okay?” 

“Yeah that’s fine,” Ash said, unsure why Eiji was asking for his permission but loving it. “Could I help you?” 

“Do you know anything about the Tangled Bank hypothesis?” Eiji laughed the kind of tight forced laughter of a madman close to tears. 

_Oh fuck yes_

“Actually I sat in on a couple biology lectures this term,” Ash said, picking up Eiji’s notes. _He doodles in the margins, too cute._ “That’s to do with evolution and spatial heterogeneity right?” Eiji nodded, slightly dumbfounded as Ash flipped through his notes. “What part don’t you understand?” 

“W-well uhh, I keep confusing it with the Red Queen hypothesis.” 

“Ah I see. Do you know the origin of their names?” Ash asked, 

“No.”

“The Red Queen hypothesis comes from a quote from “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll. ‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.’” Ash casually glanced over and grinned at the older boy’s look of awe. “In terms of the hypothesis it refers to the fact all species must constantly evolve to survive, doing the most they can just to continue existing. That would be heterogeneity over time, where the Tangled bank is heterogeneity over space. Genetic diversity and evolution for the sake of filling all available habitats, like all the different habitats in the tangled root systems of a mangrove tree. I tend to remember things better when I understand where they came from.” 

“You’re amazing!!" Eiji exclaimed, his eyes shone in a way that made Ash’s stomach do flips. “How many lectures did you sit in on?”

“4 or 5” Ash lied nonchalantly, turning away to hide his blush _1 or 2… but there’s a limit to showing off._

“Wait so do you understand this part??” Eiji pointed to a section on Brood Paratism and went to grab a pencil. 

“I’m a painter Eiji, not a biologist.” Ash laughed before glancing at the notes, “Wait actually…”

The next half hour consisted of Eiji asking questions, and Ash insisting he didn’t know the topic before he answered with an explanation more eloquent and clear than the professor’s lecture. Ash couldn’t help but get butterflies every time Eiji looked at him with gratitude and admiration, which made him show off a little more than necessary. _I should ask what his classes are next semester so I can read ahead to help him study_ he thought after the 19th time Eiji looked up at him in amazement. They didn’t notice how much time had passed until the lights in the flower coolers went off automatically.

“Oh wow it’s 9:30 already! I’ve got to lock up!!” 

“I’ll wait outside,” Ash said “Do you want me to carry anything?” He asked, watch Eiji dash around, unfastening his apron with one hand while unplugging the slow-cooker. _Slow cooker? Why is that here?_

“No it’s all good just wait outside while I set the alarm,” Eiji called from the back room and turned off the store lights. Ash made a noncommittal noise as he reached over the counter and lifted the lid of the slow cooker. He was hit with a wave of cinnamon and apples that made his mouth water and Ash realized he still hadn’t had dinner yet. There was a ladle leant against the slow cooker with a small stack of paper cups that appeared to be for customer use. _A cup wouldn’t hurt._ Ash ladled himself a spoonful of the thick apple cider. _I wonder if Eiji made this_ and he smiled at the thought of trying Eiji’s cooking for the first time before he took a sip. 

It tasted like concentrated cinnamon and dirt. Ash reflexively spat the vile liquid across the floor and started gagging. 

“Ash?” Eiji called poking his head round and gasping at the sight of the tall blonde doubled over, choking, “ASH!! Are you alright?” he ran around the counter, and slipped on the wet patch of cider, careening into Ash and knocked them both onto the floor. 

“Fucking hell,” grumbled Ash coughing once before looking down at the weight on his chest. A pair of worried eyes looked back at him, very close. 

“Ash I’m so sorry are you alright?” 

Eiji was on top of him. Ash was suddenly hyper aware of the darkness, the position they were in, the warm torso against his chest and the heat from Eiji’s breath against his face. Their faces were inches apart, and the soft glow of the street lights outside illuminated Eiji’s hair like a halo, the Christmas lights on the window reflected in his dark eyes. Then Eiji shifted and Ash forgot all that, only aware of Eiji’s legs between his. _Fuck_

“Ah.” said Eiji frozen then suddenly leapt backwards. “Oh my God Ash I’m sorry a-are you okay did I crush you?” 

“N-no it’s alright,” said Ash when he found his voice, thankful for the darkness hiding the blush that he could feel spreading across his entire face, “You weigh nothing… What the hell was in that slow cooker?” 

“Apple Cider? We make it for the customers.” Eiji said, surprised. 

“Do _we_ make it or did you make it today?” Ash asked, his lower half thankful for the diversion.

“I… might have made it today…” Eiji paused scratching is cheek, “With a little too much cinnamon.” 

“You’re fucking right a little too much cinnamon, is that how they make it in Japan?” 

“No!” said Eiji indignantly “And in Japan we usually ask before taking stuff from stores!!” 

“Well in America we don’t leave out poisonous drinks for our customers!” Ash retorted, standing up and helping Eiji to his feet. “That cider is supposed to be for sampling right?” 

“Yes,” said Eiji standing up, “B-but I asked you to wait outside!” 

“And that has nothing to do with you leaving out toxic substances for innocent strangers to drink!” Ash scolded, holding back grin at Eiji’s full blown pout. 

“It’s not that bad!!” 

“YOU TRY SOME” 

There was a pause as Ash and Eiji both looked at the slow cooker, cider still bubbling ominously from within. 

“Just shut up and go outside.” Eiji grumbled, scrunching his nose at Ash before walking away to turn on the alarm.

Ash grinned triumphantly and opened the door. It was cold, really cold, outside, but there was no rain to turn into snow so it was just dark and cold. Ash was warm all over waiting in the not-snow, his smile growing even bigger when Eiji came out of the door carrying a backpack and still not wearing his coat, hurriedly shoving some keys into the door. 

“I got that,” said Ash taking Eiji’s backpack from him.

“Ahh thanks,” said Eiji, finishing with the keys and putting on his jacket. “The last minute run to the door is always stressful, I keep thinking I’m going to trigger the alarm one day.”

“It’s no big deal I’m sure it happens all the time.” Ash said, slinging Eiji’s backpack over his shoulder instead of handing it back to him, “Where do you want to go? I know a couple of neighbourhoods that spend way too much money on decorations, if you’re up for a bit of a walk.”

“Actually,” said Eiji, kind of sheepish, “Could we stay in the area? Any other night I would love to hang out with you, really.” Ash’s heart did a little somersault “but the final is tomorrow and I do need to sleep at some point.”

“Of course… should I just walk you home then?” Ash asked, his mind raced trying to interpret the potential hidden meanings behind Eiji’s phrasing, until Eiji grinned, clearing all unnecessary noise from his mind. 

“I would love that Ash, thank you.” Eiji said softly, his breath fogging in the cold, mingling with Ash’s own clouds before dissipating. It took a lot of self control for Ash not to reach out and grab his hand, pull him closer and… and… 

“Alright lets go,” Ash said gruffly, turning around _This is not good, I’m going to lose it._ “Which way?”

“This way!” Eiji passed Ash gesturing to the right, “It’s just over the hill.” 

“Sounds good,” said Ash and began to follow. The walk flew by, they talked the entire time, about nothing and everything. Little details were of the upmost importance, with trivial facts about the other traded like precious goods. Ash learned Eiji still didn’t really now how to ride a bike, and that he was afraid of heights. In turn, Ash told him about his weird ‘pumpkin thing’ that had Eiji in stitches for a good two minutes. When they got to Eiji’s front door, Ash felt resentment for the small size of the hill, wishing it was taller. He wanted a mountain to climb over, with Eiji, so he could spend weeks walking him home. They paused outside his door, a silence descending for the first time since they left the parking lot at BFB.

“Thanks again Ash,” Eiji said, covering a yawn. _He’s gunna pass out any second_ Ash thought.

“Yeah no problem. You better not study tonight.”

“Hahah I won’t, I’m exhausted. I’ll see you later.” Eiji gave a tired smile as he said this, but when he began to open his front door, Ash saw his lips turn down and his eyes go blank.

Ash suddenly remembered Eiji was going to spend Christmas alone without his family. With maybe nobody. He suddenly got a vivid image of Eiji sitting by himself at a shitty table eating cereal alone on Christmas Day. 

“Have Christmas dinner with us.” Ash blurted out. Eiji froze, but Ash continued, “I know you might not make it back home for Christmas, and if you don’t you can come spend it with me… US with…us. My friend hosts this thing every year and you’re invited if you want to come.”

Eiji smiled and it was radiant. “I.. yeah I’d love that. Yes. I’ll go.”

“You will?!” Ash said incredulously, and Eiji nodded, still smiling. “Awesome, alright. I’ll text you the details.”

“Great, I’ll talk to you soon.” 

“Okay… cool. Good luck on your exam.” Ash began to walk backwards, still looking at Eiji standing in his doorway, not quite believing this was really happening. 

“Thank you. Get home safe, have a good night!!” Eiji waved at him.

“Yeah you too.” Ash waved back, finally turning around grinning like a maniac. _No way. NO fucking way._

He remembered the Spiderman tickets when he got home, but a ‘Good Night’ text from Eiji melted away his irritation.

Eiji had used a heart emoji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh so many kudos and over 1000 hits thank you guys so much!! All your comments are awesome I really appreciate them. 
> 
> Read the chapter title for Ash's reaction to the 'Good night <3' text
> 
> I know it's past Christmas but this will still be a Christmas themed story (sorry).
> 
> Stay tuned for more updates coming soon~~~


	6. Just two bros calling each other babe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can gays drive? Do I know Vape slang? Will we get to know every character’s favourite beverage? Find out below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up over a month later with starbucks and a new chapter* y’all still into christmas cuz i’m not done this shit yet

The doors to the exam halls swung open into the sunny December afternoon. Eiji Okumura, wearing sweatpants and an old t-shirt, walked through them with a tired smile. He was finally done his first semester at university. All the concentrated stress and anxiety surrounding those few hours were finally behind him. Eiji couldn’t wait to get home and do absolutely nothing. Two short beeps followed by a long irritating honk pulled Eiji's thoughts away from his bed and towards a beaten up silver BMW parked near the curb.

 _Oh God no._ Eiji thought, as the passenger window rolled down.

“Your ride is here Mr. Okumura,” said Sing pulling down his sunglasses. “Get in.”

“I was actually gunna bus,” said Eiji, sweating as he saw who was in the driver’s seat, “Thank you guys but I really just want to go home.”

“You haven’t been Christmas shopping yet,” said Yut-Lung sharply, tapping at the steering wheel in obvious irritation, “Sing convinced me to pick your ungrateful ass up after your exam so you could come shopping with us, two days before Christmas Eve. I am not a taxi service, get in the fucking car.”

“I’m… in my p-jays…” said Eiji weakly knowing he had already lost. 

“You look fine!” Sing smiled gesturing towards the back seat. “Just comb your hair or something.”

“You look like usual.” Yut-Lung said, as Eiji opened the beaten up car door, self consciously running his hand through his hair.

“Why is it always my hair?” Eiji mumbled as he sat down and secured his seatbelt. Eiji had only been driven by Yuu once and that experience was enough to make him grab for the car's handle grip just as the vehicle spun out of the parking lot at rubber burning speed.

“So, this chick came in this morning,” Sing turned around in his seat to face Eiji, apparently used to or oblivious to the speed at which the scenery was flying by, “And buys like 2 dozen red roses and a shit ton of baby’s breath. I’m wrapping it and Kell starts small talking like ‘Oh who are these for?’”

Eiji nodded, with a tight lipped smile trying to ignore how Yuu only had one hand on the steering wheel as the car turned hard enough to make Sing nearly fall out of his seat.

“And the Lady is like ‘They’re for my Girlfriend. We fought this morning.’ So I give like the gay knowing nod and wrap her flowers with the good shit. Obviously. And Kell doesn’t miss a beat you know like ‘Oh that’s so nice blah blah blah.’ So the lady leaves, and me and Kell go back to sorting the cooler.” Sing started snickering at this point, with one hand on the roof to keep him steady as Yut wove in and out of traffic. 

“And Kell goes ‘Oh I wish my friends did that for me.’ And I go… ‘What?’ And she says ‘You know, buy me flowers, it’s such a nice friend thing.’ And I fucking… I swear to God Eiji I almost fucking lost it. I said ‘You know she was gay? Right?’ And Kell looks at me, shocked and says ‘What? How do you know?’ and I was like BITCH IT’S TWO DOZEN APOLOGY RED ROSES FOR HER GIRLFRIEND. SHE’S GAY. Well I didn’t say tha-“

Sing’s story was cut off by Yut laying into the horn.

“Fucking idiot, LEARN TO DRIVE.” Yut screamed out the window to no car in particular. Eiji looked at the door handle and wondered if it would be safer to jump out of the car than to stay in it. 

“Anyway,” Sing continued, completely unfazed, “Then she gave me like a half hour lecture on how she’s not homophobic. I'm kind of glad it was her last shift honestly, she didn't really mesh too well with us. Well me anyway, I don’t know how much you liked her before shit went down.”

“I- She was alright. I never had any problems with her before she decided to quit.” Eiji said, and then a couple octaves higher, “Hey Yut, it’s a uhh… school zone.”

“It’s Winter break.” snapped Yut-Lung breaking suddenly at a four-way intersection just past the elementary school. Sing went flying backwards.

“Agghhh watch it! I almost went through the windshield.” Sing complained, rubbing the back of his head.

“You wouldn’t have if you’d’ve been sitting properly.” 

“Fine.” Sing sat forward then craned his neck backwards to yell at Eiji, “So who are you buying gifts for?”

Eiji thought for a moment. He’d chipped in some money for a Nintendo Switch for his sister so she was taken care of, but he hadn’t gotten anything for his parents because him coming home was supposed to be their gift. If he sent anything now it still wouldn’t make it on time, so he would probably just ask his sister to pick something for them on his behalf and send her the money. Aside from Sing, he hadn’t really made any ‘gift-exchange-worthy’ friends yet, and he couldn’t buy Sing’s present while they were together. Eiji was beginning to question why he was even on the shopping trip in the first place when a patch of sunlight triggered his memory.

“Ash.” said Eiji, not really meaning to voice it out loud.

“Who?” Asked Sing tilting his head.

“He’s uhh my tutor” Eiji scrambled brain tried to come up with a believable lie, “He helped me study for my last exam so I wanted to thank him.”

“Boring but okay. Anyone elsssseee?”

“Oh Cain!!” Eiji remembered suddenly, “We have to get him something.” 

“Oh fuck yeah I forgot about him! That dude is awesome!!” Sing said enthusiastically “He smuggles me yam fries all the time.”

“Wait you guys know Cain? White Spot Chef Cain?” Yut-Lung asked.

“Yeah of course how do you know him?” Sing countered

“He comes in for coffee all the time, and he’s always smoking at the dumpster. How come he’s giving you free food?” asked Yut suspiciously.

“Cuz I asked him.” Sing stuck out his tongue, and Eiji could feel Yut’s eye-roll from behind his enormous sunglasses. “He says we’re starving students who need to have a decent meal once in a while.”

“Nice of him. I didn’t know yam fries was a meal.” Yut sniffed then, without slowing down, turned right into the mall's parking lot. 

“We should split something for him, like a gift card or a new kitchen knife.” Sing said, already unbuckling his seatbelt before the car had parked, something Eiji was absolutely not brave enough to do. 

“Yeah that’s a good idea.” said Eiji fumbling with the door handle as soon as the car had stopped moving, whispering “Thank god.” when his feet touched solid pavement.

They’d arrived at the closest and therefore smallest mall in the area. It had around three floors covered in christmas regalia. Strings of glowing icicles bridged the open gap that overlooked the lower floors. There was an artificially frosted glass railing surrounding this central drop, which backed dozens of Christmas trees, each designed by a different store in the mall as a bit of friendly competition. As soon as the boys were in the mall, Sing rushed over to the hot wheels themed christmas tree yelling for Yut to take his picture. 

“I need coffee I’ll be right back.” Eiji half-heartedly called over to the two of them, who seemed to have forgotten about him. He sighed and walked towards the nearest coffee shop, doing his best to avoid the throngs of people rushing in and out of stores cramming in last minute Christmas shopping. He stopped when a Brontë themed tree designed by the Mall’s bookstore caught his eye. Eiji smiled at the handmade Jane Eyre ornament holding a suitcase, and took out his phone to send a picture to Ash. He hadn’t sent Ash anything since the good night text. That wonderful night after Ash had walked him home and been nice enough to invite Eiji to spend Christmas with his family. Eiji had even worked up the courage to send a heart emoji, but Ash hadn’t sent anything back. Not even a return emoji. His soft smile turned into a frown and he lowered his phone. 

_Maybe I’m being too pushy._ Eiji thought his gaze caught by a Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth couples ornament. _I don’t want to fuck this up_

The coffee shop was painfully busy. Yut and Sing showed up just when Eiji was ordering his mocha and got him to buy their drinks.

 _Assholes_ Eiji thought bitterly glaring at his friends sitting across from him at a small table just outside the cafe. _Drag me out to go_ _shopping_ _right after my damn exam and then they have the audacity to make me buy them drinks, like I’m not broke._

“So we’re looking for something for your tutor?” Yut asked, dragging Eiji out of his grouchy rumination. “What’s he into?” 

“Oh uhh, he likes books?” Eiji said, more like a question than a statement. Yut raised a single perfectly shaped eyebrow and said nothing. Eiji thought the silence was more terrifying than a sarcastic barb. He’d honestly prefer Sing to have his nose in his romantic life than Yut, and unfortunately Yut was a whole lot better at picking up on that stuff than Sing was.  


“Gift card?” Sing asked, chewing on the tapioca balls from his bubble tea, “There’s a bookstore somewhere here right?”

“No I don’t want to get him a gift card. I want to get something meaningful.” Eiji said without thinking, which made Sing and Yut give each other a look. “NO it’s not like that!! I just want to get him something he’ll like. Hold on! Why are we so interested in my gifts? What are you guys buying?” 

“I’m finished.” said Yut 

“Cain and Yuu!!” chirped Sing, and then paused “Wait, YUT Yuu, not you I’ve already got a gift for you. YOU you. Not Yut-Lung Yu-“ 

“We get it babe.” Yut cut Sing off before he could confuse himself anymore.

It was Eiji’s turn to raise an eyebrow. _Babe huh? Were there new developments in the Sing/Yut drama?_ He thought, as the two started to bicker back and forth, _Judging by the way they both didn’t seem to falter at the pet name, it was just another nickname that bros gave each other. Babe. Just two bros calling each other babe. Nothing gay about that. God I’m tired._ Eiji’s muddled thoughts slipped towards Ash, smiling at him in his mind’s eye, his hand out stretched calling for him, ‘Hey Babe.’ 

Eiji sat bolt upright, coughing to hide his blush _Maybe calling your bro babe was a little gay_

“Should we buy something for Cain first then?” Eiji asked, standing up and gathering his things, not wanting the drowsiness to catch up to him again. 

“Kayyyy” Sing sighed, stretching backwards and downing the rest of his drink. “Kitchen store place?” 

“Kitchen store place.” Eiji agreed and the three began to make their slow way through the mall. Eiji ended up tailing behind Sing and Yut, feeling a weird pull in his chest every time Sing laughed and Yut’s face softened looking at his companion’s joy, or when Sing put his arm around Yut’s shoulders playfully jostling him for just a little too long. _What is this?_ Eiji thought, his mind once again drifting back to his sunny haired green eyed boy. _Why do I miss him so much?_ They went into the kitchen store place, or as it was formally called ‘Ming Wo Cookware’ but it was too expensive to justify purchasing anything. They then traipsed back towards the bookstore, passing a vape shop where Sing excitedly wondered if a vape might help Cain quit smoking. Yut assured him it would not, even if the vape juice was ‘yam fries’ which Yut, again, was adamant did not exist. Eiji found himself feeling more and more like a third wheel. Even though the two of them, well Sing, tried to include him in their conversations, they would ramble off naturally isolating Eiji from the conversation. It wasn’t malicious, Eiji thought, it's just they were so easily caught up in one another’s company they would forget anyone else existed. He couldn’t blame them but he also couldn’t shake the feeling of being an outsider or the annoying twinge in his chest.

_Jealous_ The word popped into his mind, and Eiji shook his head attempting to clear brain. No. It was more than that. There was too much longing and sadness and _him_ twisted up in his thoughts for it to be pure jealousy. _I want to be doing this with him. I want Ash to be here._ The epiphany hit Eiji hard, cutting through the layers of exhaustion and caffeine muddling his thoughts. Sudden clarity regarding the fact that he might be a lot more into this painter than he had meant to be. It was definitely dangerous, falling so quickly, especially if the other person wasn’t careening down the same cliff he was. Was Ash at the top of this mountain Eiji found himself tumbling down? Did Ash even concern himself with the possibility of a fall? Did Ash even see him like that? 

_I don’t even know him and I still can’t stop thinking about him_ Eiji thought, following Sing and Yut, half paying attention as they entered a chocolate shop. 

“Eiji. EIJI!” Sing called, grabbing his attention “Does your tutor like chocolates?” 

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe.” Eiji suddenly remembered the mountain of whipped cream and sprinkles on Ash’s mocha. “Wait yes. He really likes sweets.” 

“Do you think Cain likes chocolates too?” Sing pondered, pulling down a box of cadburys before looking at the price tag and gingerly putting it back. 

“Yes he does.” Yut Lung smirked, walking over to the discount section and pulling out a white chocolate selection box. “His Starbucks order is a white chocolate mocha or a white chocolate frappe.” 

“Owwahhhh!!” Sing cried and grabbed the box from Yut’s hands, “How the hell do you remember his order? I can’t even remember what our regulars look like!!! Thank you Yut~!!” 

“Of course.” Yut pulled back adjusting his hair and looking to the side, blushing slightly. 

_Wow now that I know why I feel awful they are honestly the worst!_ Eiji thought, as they paid for the chocolates. _Just make out already christ._

“No Chocolates for the Tutor? What’s his name again?” Sing asked as they were leaving the store.

“Oh Ash? No I don’t think I should get him chocolates… I don’t know what flavours he likes, or if it’s even his favourite candy is chocolate.” Eiji rambled on, not noticing Sing and Yut side eye to each other, “I mean I could get him chocolates but it just seems like an easy out if I don’t know what he likes about chocolate. Books would be good maybe. He likes reading so much, he nearly lives at the library. But he reads so much I don’t know if he would have already read anything I bought him. He’s really smart, and he has good fashion sense. I could get him some clothes but I don’t know if I could afford the things he would actually like. What do you guys think?” 

There was a pause before Sing asked “This is your tutor? Yes?”

“Y-yeah? Why?” asked Eiji defensively.

“Okay. Well you said ‘reading’ a lot so we should go check out the bookstore.” Sing said, suspiciously dropping the subject without further interrogation. 

When they got to the bookstore, Sing and Yut went to check out the non-fiction books for biology-centric options and Eiji ended up wandering the ‘classical literature’ shelves alone. His fingers brushed each spine as his mind ran restless elsewhere. 

_Why did he invite me to the dinner in the first place? Did that mean anything to him or was he just being nice?_ Eiji picked up his phone and saw there were still no new messages. _Oh god am I just projecting my feelings onto him? Is this projection?? He’s probably not even going to get me anything for Christmas. It probably hasn’t even crossed his mind. I… probably haven’t even crossed his mind. I’m just another stranger to him. He’s just a really nice guy he would have probably done that for anyone._

Eiji could feel himself getting dragged down by his internal panic. All of his doubts and insecurities amplified by the pure exhaustion he was feeling from the stress of the past week. He felt shame and embarrassment at the thought of ever feeling he was special to Ash, when they didn’t even know each other. He wasn’t thinking clearly, he needed space. His feelings were too strong too soon and Eiji’s tired brain couldn’t recall any time when they were obviously reciprocated. 

He started typing out the text, shaky at first then calm. 

_It was for the best. Just some space right now, until I can sort everything out._

When he hit send it really didn’t hurt that much. Just another twinge in his chest, that dulled and spread until he felt nothing. 

  
(Sorry but I do not think I will be able to make Christmas Dinner. Thanks so much again for the invite but I am actually going to be busy then. Have fun though.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah sorry about the hiatus, I've been mad busy with school and stuff. 
> 
> I'm thinking the cliffhanger will be a good motivator for me to update soon because I too want to find out what happens. 
> 
> The 'Girlfriend' anecdote was actually based on a 100% real interaction I had with one of my co-workers and a customer at the flower store I used to work at. Straights are crazy. 
> 
> Thank you so much for all your comments and kudos you are all the reason why I'm still writing this Christmas fic in February haha. I'll try and to reply to all of you but if I miss someone it's not personal It's just careless on my part and please know you are still greatly appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading it's my first fic ever hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
